Kayak Koz

I've caught dozens of fish on the Whopper Plopper in Bone. I've never even had a strike on the Loon.

Fish school

I love the Whopper Plopper and have had success with it (the near 6 pounder in my profile pick was on a Bone 110). But I've noticed something odd on the small lagoons that I fish. Initially the WP is like crack for the bass. But after a few outings with it on a lagoon the productivity drops off. Maybe it's coincidence with the changing season, but it's been the same way on the 9 lagoons that I regularly fish. They're also magnets for other wildlife. I had a Red Tailed Hawk pick it up once and if there's a gator in the lagoon it acts like a dinner bell for them.

I'm simply fascinated by the amount of people here that carry 5-10+ rods. I understand having 2 or 3 rods with some combination of baitcast, spincast, and a rod with heavy braid. But I don't see how there is a huge statistical advantage by precisely matching every rod type, lure type, reel type, and line type. I'm not trying to be disrespectful, I'm just wondering if it makes a large, statistical difference in fish strikes and landing fish for the average, non-pro fisherman. I bank fish 99% of the time with one rod and reel combo. I used to bring a second spinner combo but it was more of a pain than a convenience. Next year I might add a baitcaster and see if that makes a difference of any kind. I have a Spiderwire shoulder tackle bag with three large boxes for lures and one small one for terminal tackle. The extra space in the body of the bag allows me to carry a large Ziploc bag that hold a number of soft plastic bags. When I bank fish I usually bring my bike so I can quickly move to new locations or to new lagoons.

I have fished with the 90,110, 1nd 130 on my Ugly Stick MH fast action and caught a lot of fish. However, your choice of line is key. I have only one rod so I don't have the luxury of matching lures to line and that has been problematic. I've had the line snap using the 110 with 12lb mono. I've had the line snap using the 130 and 16lb fluoro. Snapping off the 110 was a surprise, but using the 130 on stretchy line was my fault. No line snaps with the 90, although I once hung it in a tree hanging over the water. It's amazing how far those Whopper Ploppers will fly when the line breaks. So now I use either 40 or 50 pound braid. While not ideal for all lures I do like to throw the WP, a frog, and a few other heavier lures so I make do with that one my one reel. Next year I'll have to invest in a second rod and reel.

I have some lures that I really LIKE to throw (T-rig Senko, Whopper Plopper, Booyah Pad Crasher) so I usually start with those. But if those aren't producing I'll start working through my bag including different plastics, buzzbait, chatterbait, spinner bait, jig, or something else. I'm definitely not afraid to go through my tackle bag. For me it really depends upon a combination of what kind of cover or lack of cover I'm seeing and what I feel like throwing that day. If I was a professional fisherman I'd probably break things down a lot more and base my decision of what to throw based on that analysis. But I'm not a pro, so I fish the lures that for me are fun to use.

I should probably double check the calibration on my scale. I bought a cheap Reel Sonar digital scale and never verified its accuracy.

Here in the Bluffton and Hilton Head SC area we have hundreds and hundreds of bass producing lagoons. Most of these are man made lagoons within gated and non-gated residential communities. A few communities, Oldfield and Hampton Lake, stock their lagoons and lake. Hampton Lake stocks the hybrid Tiger Bass. What I like is that I can bike or walk to dozens of lagoons near my home. You can't put a bass boat in these lagoons, but you can kayak and canoe. Just mind the gators. The Santee Cooper Lakes and Lake Murray are great if you enjot big lakes, but the fishing pressure is a lot higher. Lake Murray doesn't have alligators, but you'll find them in the Santee Cooper region as well. Lake Hartwell is in the NW corner of SC and has great bass fishing and is a pro tournament stop. But the fishing pressure is pretty high in that lake.

I'm a big fan of the Whopper Plopper, especially in Bone. For me it's one of those baits that draws blanks all day or blows up all day. Today was a good day with it. I caught a 5.75 pounder on the 110 Bone. I've also caught some on the 90 and 130 in Bone and the 90 in Munky Butt. Oddly enough, I have never had even a single strike on my black 130. Not a single strike.

My father has been living in Sun City Hilton Head for 10+ years and there's a small lagoon out back of his property that I've never thought much about when it comes to fishing. But the other day when I was taking down his hurricane shutters I saw a decent sized fish jump. It was a light colored green, not the typical darker green of a largemouth bass and definitely not a panfish. So today my son and I brought our poles over when we visited. Here's that small lagoon: Within a few minutes my 11 year old caught what looked to be a white bass while fishing with a beetle spin. Half an hour later he went inside declaring himself the "Fishing Champion". I stayed and fished. I had a bump on a topwater frog but put it back in my tackle box because an annoying little juvenile gator kept following it around. I tried a worm and a jig but had no luck. So then I tossed a beetle spin and although I did not catch anything I caught a glimpse of s decent sized fish trying to hit it as I pulled it in to shore. I switched to a big spinnerbait and something hit it and wrapped the spinner around the line but didn't hit the hook. Next was a black and blue chatterbait and within a few casts I had a solid strike and landed a 4.5 pound largemouth. That completely surprised me in this tiny lagoon. I thought I'd catch some dinks and maybe a 1.5 pounder. But it gets even better. I'm about to wrap it up for the day but I decide to throw my Whopper Plopper 110 (Bone) hoping to get in a few casts before that annoying little gator came around again. On my second cast something big blew up on it just a few yards from my feet. Two casts later and a HUGE blow up on the Whopper Plopper. I could see it was a big one and he had some fight in him, but not enough fight to get away. I was hoping for 7+ pounds and a new PB, but it weighed in at 5.75. Still a nice fish for such a small lagoon. I can't believe that my father has lived here for a decade and neither he nor I had fished that lagoon before. It just goes to show you, leave no stone unturned. Oh yeah - my son now knows who is the real fishing champ for today!

Recently the bite also disappeared in our smaller lagoons here in SC. I think that it may have something to do with the fact we are seeing a wider range of air temperatures this time of year and that is creating a bit of havoc with water temperatures. It's still in the upper 80's and low 90's during the day, but at night the temperatures are dropping to the mid to low 60's. Just a few weeks ago the nighttime were in the upper 70's and 80's. I haven't checked or logged our water temperatures during the year so I can't compare a few weeks ago to now. But my guess is that the water temps are yo-yoing a lot right now, especially near surface levels and shallow water. I think that the fall air temperature patterns make things a bit more extreme for the fish on these 1-5 acre lagoons and ponds whereas on a larger body of water there are more gradual changes to water temperatures. We've seen some panfish and some bait fish, but for a while now not one bass in what used to be our "go to" lagoon. We'll probably pass on fishing there again until late October or November when the air and water temps are cooler. If we still don't catch anything then my guess is that the alligators got them. This year there was a big momma and two juvenile gators in that lagoon.

Here in SC we were spared the brunt of Irma but still contended with tropical storm winds, lots of rain, and localized flooding. On Sunday night before the storm hit my 11 year old son was feeling cooped up in the house and wanted to do some fishing. The winds were gusting 15-25 mph and the rain had not begun, so we headed to one of the nearby lagoons. The lagoon we chose is on a defunct golf course and it's out in the open. There are no trees around the lagoon or close enough to fall near us and nearby there's a large pavilion where mowing equipment was stored if we needed to take cover. It was getting dark so we didn't have much time to fish but with the wind at our backs we gave it a go, I landed one around one pound but my son landed a nice 3 pounder as we were about to leave. Monday arrives and the storm has come to our area. Winds are gusting in the 40's and it's raining most of the day. By the afternoon there are occasional breaks followed by squalls. So my son wants to go fishing again. So we ride our bikes out to the same lagoon to give it another go. Five minutes after we get out there another squall comes in and in two minutes were soaked to the bone. The occasional strong gust knocks my son on his butt and he's just laughing and having a good time. So we stayed out there with the weather alternating from breezy fall day to tropical storm squalls. And we caught nothing. The sun even came out for a while and when that happened a big, 12 foot gator came out of the weeds to soak up some rays. Not long after that we decided we had had enough and headed back home. That was probably best because soon after it rained hard again for a solid hour. And while we didn't catch anything we did have a few laughs and now we can always say we fished during a tropical storm.

We're going to evacuate within the next day or so. I managed to get a hotel room in Lavonia, GA where I thought we'd be out of the way of the storm. But now it looks like Irma will hit there as a tropical storm. The only bright spot in all of this is that Lavonia is not that far from Lake Hartwell. We're bringing our fishing gear just in case we get stuck up there for a few days.

I'm down near the southeastern tip of SC and right now the projected center path of Irma is taking dead aim at us. I am not pleased. I'm praying that the pressure system to the west builds more than expected and pushes the hurricane more out to sea. When hurricane Matthew hit last year it was a Cat 1 and we stayed here. Those that left the area were barred from coming back for a week. Long story short - zoning and construction laws here are a lot different and when buildings and homes are built, they are built without clear cutting mature trees. So we had thousands of downed trees that are still being cleaned up today. Irma is predicted to be a Cat3/Cat4 when it gets to our area. I can only imagine what the damage would be. Later today the hurricane shutters are going up. Yesterday I was lucky enough to find a hotel room about a 4.5 hour drive NW of us but I'm guessing it may take us 16+ hours to get there when we evacuate on Sunday. Unlike most people today I don't have an SUV (I have a small Genesis Coupe) so I won't be able to take much with me other than me, my son, and our dog when we evacuate. But we're going to find room for our fishing poles, tackle box, and baseball gear. If we aren't allowed back in the area for a week or two we're going to need to find something to do during the day. When I was younger it was always exciting watching and waiting to see if the hurricane was coming our way. Now, not so much. I have this queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Waiting for the latest hurricane updates is excruciating. I understand what the folks in Florida are going through and it's not fun at all. I hope all the folks in Florida make the wise decision and get out of town. There's no need to be brave - or foolish - with a Cat4/5 hurricane on the way. Better safe than sorry.

I have a Pfleuger President (40) paired with an Ugly Stick and for me it's a very versatile combo and it lands bass of all sizes. I'm not trying to be rude, but it's probably not your rod and reel that's causing you issues. If you're putting teh right bait in the right spot you can catch fish with a cane pole and 8 pound mono. My guess is that you're not fishing in the right spot for the time of day / season you have been fishing.

And tropical storm Jose is not far behind it, also threatening the east coast. We're still cleaning up from last year's Hurricane Matthew and that was only a Cat 2 storm.

I haven't fished in Shipyard but there is good fishing in Hilton Head Plantation and in Sea Pines. You can pay a daily gate fee in Sea Pines and your best bet is to bring or rent some bikes to access the lagoons. If you drive to them you won't be able to find a place to park, and if you park on the side of the road security will make you move your car. Biking would also be a great way to cover a lot of ground in Shipyard. If you don't have your own there are rental places everywhere that will pick up and drop off bikes for you.

And here I thought I was the only one that did that. A few months ago I was bank fishing in a lagoon that has dense forest and vegetation all around it except for two casting areas. I was making long, long casts with a Whopper Plopper 130 attached with a snap that had not bothered to re-tie that day. One cast later the Plopper is going, going, gone to an inaccessible part of the lagoon. I still look around for it every time I fish that lagoon. Maybe one day I'll catch a bass that already tried to feast on my trusty Plopper.

In SC if you forget your fishing license and DNR comes along if you give them your name they can look up your license. You may want to see if they do that in your state as well.

I've found that with the 90's I have to go tip up on the rod most of the time to keep the tail spinning properly. As mentioned above, with long casts they tend to submerge for a bit so you have to wait before retrieving. If the tiniest bit of weeds get caught on the back end of the 90's they tend to lock up and then the lure rolls a bit. Very frustrating. It's not as bad with the 110's and 130's. I think I read that their design changed a bit with the 100's so it was harder for weed strands to gunk it up.

When my son was little he never wanted to take a fish off of the hook, touch a fish, or bait his own hook. Now he's almost 12 years old and if I catch something he'll come running from the other side of the lagoon to take the fish off for me. He actually gets disappointed if I take it off on my own, especially if it's more than a few pounds.

I had a lot of fun fishing with my 11 year old yesterday even though it wasn't one of those banner fishing days with tons of fish landed or anything close to big fish. I wasn't having much luck with my normal baits so I put on a big ol' buzzbait and gave that a try. Within a few minutes I landed a decent 2 pounder but nothing else bit in the next dozen casts. But the water was clear and I could see the bass following my bait or moving towards it as it neared the shore. So I had my son toss a Ned Rig as a follow up and lo and behold he started reeling them in. The biggest was only 1.5 pounds but he landed enough to keep him excited and happy. It was a lot of fun and a good example for him of team fishing and learning that we could be more productive by using different baits instead of his copying what I was fishing. O only wish that there were some father and son fishing tournaments around here. I wasn't able to find any in our area, even on Father's Day.

I bank fish primarily in the same 8 lagoons and for the most part my standard approach is to start off with either a T-rigged Senko or Dinger, Booyah Pad Crasher, or Whopper Plopper 90. Which one I start with usually depends upon the time of day and/or weather conditions. For example, in these lagoons I almost never get hits on the frog or Plopper 90 if it's really windy that day. If the fish are biting at that point I'll start throwing bigger baits like the Whopper Plopper 110 or 130, a big buzz bait, or a jig and craw setup. If the fish aren't biting that well I'll throw a Beetle Spin, small chatterbait, jerkbait, or Ned Rig. Occasionally I'll throw a crankbait, lipless crank, or a bigger swimbait but those have never been good producers for me. If the bite is slow that day I'll invariably go through whatever is in the 4 trays in my tackle bag, but my emphasis is always on those first three baits.

Thanks for the offer. We may take you up on that sometime. We usually come up to your area a few times a year for travel baseball tournaments.

Do you hook the beaver through the tail? Does it try to bite you? Doesn't the big splash scare off the bass? Sorry - couldn't resist